Writer Blessings and Hurricane Sandy by Jennifer Spiller

It’s easy to fall into a "woe is me" rut as a writer. The road to publishing is more like a dirt trail over the Rockies than a high speed train through Europe. Sometimes the words just get stuck. (Usually, there’s a good reason for this. Figure out the reason, get unstuck). I had a fun, snarky post on Why Your #NaNoWriMo is Sucking all ready to go this morning. Technical difficulties interfered. This was a blessing.

Yes, my #NaNoWriMo is sucking. I write at a variety of paces--anywhere from staring at the screen for six hours and getting two hundred words, to working for five hours and knocking out five thousand. The most I’ve ever written in a day was one eight hour marathon with close to thirty pages to finish a manuscript. They weren’t even skeletal, but fully developed pages. While I might whine on Twitter, I really am grateful for the chance to do this.

My hometown is Commack, NY. You don’t need to Google Map it, (or God forbid, use your Apple maps). It’s smack in the center of Long Island. Tons of my friends on the Island, in New York City and in New Jersey have had a harrowing week. Some are still without power, including one friend with a two boys, a fifteen month old girl, and a month old baby. (Today will be the day, Jordana! I feel it)!

The devastation to the shores, to Fire Island, to countless neighborhoods and homes and lives, twists my heart. I live in Virginia, but my neighbor here is from the next town over on the Island, and she didn’t hear from her mother in Smithtown until Friday night. We were worried sick.

If there’s one thing a tragedy like this can do, it is illuminate how blessed we really are. This is the month of Thanksgiving in America. It’s a good time to count our blessings.

Writing is a blessing. One of the great things about being a writer is that is requires so little. Unlike many other art forms, it doesn’t require a huge amount of space, or supplies. You can do research at a library or online. Heck, if you don’t own a computer, you can write long-hand, and go to a library and type up your document. Old school, I know. But let’s not forget how Nora Roberts started her first novel.

You can think about your story and characters while sitting in the carpool lane. You can jot things down on a napkin in a coffee shop, like J.K. Rowling. The only limits are in your head.

Publishing is a long and rocky road. The money is wretched for most. It’s never a sure thing, even when you’ve been published a while. But how amazing to be able to do this at all!

If your #NaNoWriMo is sucking? Hang in there. I promise that if you do, one of these days, you’ll hit the sweet spot. You’ll look up from the computer, because your starved children are clawing at your legs, and you’ll realize you’ve been deep in the story, so deep you didn’t even notice the wordcount. You were riding the writer high.

It’s amazing. It’s fulfilling. You won’t want to give it up. So you’ll chuck a few pieces of bread at your children and turn back to the computer.

Don’t worry; they’ll survive. And when they grow up, they’ll have LOTS of story fodder.

Writing, all on its own, is a blessing.

If you’re blessed enough to be able to write for #NaNoWriMo this week, with electricity, and food and heat and water and shelter, perhaps even supported by loved ones, give thanks. If you’re able, please consider donating to the relief efforts from Hurricane Sandy. It’s going to be a long road back for those people, longer and harder for some than the road to publication.